Burnsville-based Organic Food Distributor Absorbed by United Natural Foods

The largest Minnesota-based distributor of natural foods has been bought out by a company that is even bigger: Burnsville's Trudeau Foods is now the property of United Natural Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: UNFI), the "largest publicly traded wholesale distributor to the natural, organic, and specialty industry in the United States and Canada." 

The deal closed on Sept. 30, 2013. In a press release about the acquisition, UNFI’s President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Spinner said the deal would greatly increase his company's market share. Trudeau supplies much of the upper midwest, with over 600 customer locations in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

UNFI has repeatedly garnered plaudits in the press. From 2006 to 2010 and in 2012,  Fortune named it one of the "Most Admired Companies." UNFI is also winner of the Supermarket News 2008 Sustainability Excellence Award, the Nutrition Business Journal's 2009 Environment and Sustainability Award and was named one of the "Top 20 Green Providers" by Food Logistics Magazine in 2012.